Model room space

17 posts in this topic

Hi everyone well just thinking its time to expand the model room now kind of getting crowed with more kits and tools.So just curious to what some peoples ideas are on model room size and much do you devote to a working space? Also what items would you have more of example more shelves or workbench? What kind of tools would you put in a model room any ideas?

Edited 10 Dec 2012 by greymack

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When I built my model room I lowered the ceiling 15 inches. Now I have the whole top of my room for storage. I use a pole with a hook on it to slide the boxes in and out of the space. The space is for long term storage. All of the boxes near the outside of the space can be easily gotten to.

You can use the space overhead buy building large deep overhead shelves. As long as you can stand up in the room, the rest of the head room can be used for storage.

Also, when you build model display shelves, the lower part of the shelves is typically too low to view models. So I keep my unbuilt model kits in boxes under my model display shelves.

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I'll snap some pictures when I get home from work, but my model room is a 6'x12' bedroom that also doubles as a computer area. I have bookshelves alone one wall and two 6' wire shelves along the other. My desk resides on the third wall with the window and is almost the full 6'.

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As promised, here's my model space. Forgive the picture quality; new camera is coming from Santa. Being a 6'x12' space, its difficult to get a good overall view. The first two pictures are from the doorway looking in.

The next two are from my desk looking out towards the door. The room isn't a perfect rectangle; there is a small closet in one corner that intrudes into the space... The breaker panel for my home is in here too, further limiting the space. I managed to make room for everything I have at the moment. Gotta start building to make room for more!

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I started years ago with a TV tray, then moved into a closet, but now I'm lucky enough to have a 14x15 foot room devoted to hobby stuff. One side has a computer station a couch, TV, fridge and some bookshelves. The important side has a full length work bench. I used to get frustrated by having everything piled into one place, so on the new bench I divided it into stations fabrication, painting, photography, and general assembly (the part I use the most).

I bought several short shelves meant for shoe storage to put under the bench. These work great for spray paint and the plastic shoe boxes I keep in progress stuff in.

I used track lighting above which is easy to install and the lights can easily be moved around to where you need them. I put some under cabinet lights under the work bench to help me find little parts I drop.

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I like to keep all my kit boxes. I've moved around so much in the past 10 years that every time I move I put the built models back in their original boxes. Yes, that means I have all those empty boxes from the built kits; they're stashed in my shed.

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Since moving home and being stuck in the living room, I've been confined to try tables.

Now that I'm finally reclaiming my old bedroom, at least to a degree, I'm going to install a folding 2x3' table on the wall that I can use for my model building. I might see about rigging some kind of a portable spray booth and venting it from the window, too.

I'm still figuring out how I'll be displaying stuff, especially a couple of models that'll be too big for the box once finished. Where I figure I'll also be here for at least another year or so, that may be the bigger challenge.

I'm thinking I may wait until I have my own place again to do major displays, but at least I'll have somewhere to build.

Charlie Larkin

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I Built my "office" in the lower level of my home. I live with three women and needed my own space, it measures 17'10" X 15'6" and has a closet that measures 14' X 6' I store my models in the closet. I left the floor concrete as it easy to find dropped parts and its easy to clean.Most of my paint in the metal cabinet hanging on the wall,I got from a gas station that was closing. By designing my model room as a bedroom, all I have to do is carpet the floor and it becomes a 5th bed room, [we did a similar work room for my wife also], adding value to my home. If I could give any advice it would be to sit down with paper and pencil, and list your needs and space and plan accordingly. Be creative afterall you are a model builder, just extend that creativity into your work space. Im not rich we are a single income family. I did the wall studs and drywall, electric was done by a friend, I hung the doors trim and painted, and I'm no carpenter. Hope this helps.

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Hi guys thanks for some great ideas.Well finely started to clean out another room and built a workbench and some shelves so far.So here is a picture of what I built .I'll call this part 1

It looks like you already know this, but build to your space, it is yours and you know what you need. Don't just build some shelves, build shelves that fit your stuff (assume the little guys around the dark brown cabinet is for paint).

You might want to look into some under cabinet lights or track lighting. You could mount them right above your bench freeing up desk space and providing lots of working light. They are very easy to install, and fairly inexpensive. I'm really liking the LED lights I put in as they are bright, don't use much power and don't get hot. Not cheap though, $30-40 per bulb but they claim to have a life of 20 years or so.

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Hey guys thanks for the info.I was thinking the desk might be too low but have to give it a try can always lift it up a few inches . I also plan on making half of my basement part of my hobby room area.Also a gallery to display my models will be in the works too.Mainly get enough shelves up to improve my model collection.